Hard on him?

Although my family have always been supporters of Rangers I am nevertheless rather fond of Shane McGowan, indeed more with the Popes than the Pogues. Perhaps he is a shade self destructive but with my own interest in a drink on occasion it behooves me not to cast a stone at some-one with a minor (?) tendency to overindulgence.

But while listening to him, and there can be no doubt of his talent, I thought of my visits to family in Glasgow as a youngster. The family would travel first to London, then take the overnight sleeper to Glasgow; cars were then a major luxury and we certainly could not afford one. In fact the travelling was only sometimes made in an actual sleeper car since the finances often meant we sat up all night.

From the station in Glasgow we would then take the tram to our relatives. Now of course these splendid modes of transport are long gone and to my mind Glasgow, although these days a more engaging city generally, is now the worse for their going.

Of course all this was extremely exciting to a small boy and I was amazed to discover that my auntie had become a clippie in the war. My uncle had not been in the forces since his works at the Clyde ship building works was deemed too important to allow his departure. My auntie, like many Scottish ladies, could be quite formidable at times and she ran a fairly strict tram, although occasionally permitting a passenger to ride even a shade the worse from too many calls for "a hauf and a hauf"s which was, as I recall, a half pint of heavy, a beer now rarely drunk since the Scots turned to lager, and a half gill of whisky. A potent combination. So some of her regulars were surprised to see her turn off a man not especially drunk and forcing him into walking home. However she explained that her husband was not riding on her tram in that condition and this was a good enough explanation.